People with higher IQ 'Less Likely to Believe in God' (1 Viewer)

[themadness]

Einstein
Tesla
Two greats physisists in the history of the human race were deeply religious, and their religion inspired a lot of their work.

'nuf said, article's argument is invaid.

I'm not certain about Tesla, but Einstein was definitely not religious in the 'normal' sense of the word. It has often been construed by various organisations/individuals with an axe to grind (on par with the misquoting of biologists by creationists) that he was quote, "a deeply religious man". This is emphatically not true, especially given the recent high profile auctioning of his letters in which he emphatically stated that he was not religious.

Einstein held what were a very interesting set of beliefs. He could probably be best described as either a deist or a pantheist, but basically he was in awe of the universe (something which I can relate to). He was just as annoyed when Atheists quote mined him as when people of a religious persuasion did the same.

Take note of the use of inverted comma's around the 'normal' above. I have always found it interesting that people often use very loose definitions of their beliefs in God. I'm going to go with the definition that religion (to borrow from wikipedia); ".. is a set of beliefs and practices generally held by a human community, involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals and study of ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience."

Besides this fairly inconsequential side note, the argument you have put forth is basically flawed. The point that the author of the study tried to was that there appeared to be an inverse correlation between intelligence and a belief in a 'personal God'. I don't necessarily agree with this point-of-view, but he was stating what the data seemed to suggest. This doesn't mean that if you find two prominent examples of people (you believe) are intelligent and believe in a personal God, that the argument is entirely invalid - it just means that they are intelligent and believe in a personal God. Its not like you are trying to prove an existence statement; where if you find one example of it not being the case the whole argument goes out the window.

This may be descending into ad-hominem territory but I believe that Karl Marx once stated (roughly translated and slightly paraphrased) that religion was the "opiate of the masses". Starcraftmazter, assuming you believe in a personal God (a reasonable proposition given your stance in this thread) - how do you integrate this with your political views ie to use a euphemism; quite far left? Note - this is a serious question. I do want to know.

Oh and ...

Indeed, this must be the most biased, most idiotic study done, just to badmouth religion.

And as if it wasn't already stupid - it was done in USA, on Americans, and I think that just says it all.

Please try not to generalise so much. I know this may be hard given your apparent intense disliking of Americans, but that is basically on par of trying to say that all Atheists are intelligent while all Christians are dumb. In short generalisations are evil.

 

[u-borat]

Methinks that higher IQs means one is more likely to question something entirely based on faith. And they'd rather logically find another solution to the issue.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

Thread should be renamed "People with higher IQ more likely to go to hell"!

 

[conics2008]

Dumb UK article.

I don't believe in god, and my IQ is below 30.

Idiot!

 

[11kloseboy]

My IQ is 120 i don't believe in god so maybe it is true

 

[shinji]

i still don't get why Laphonso-Ellis attacked Starcraftmazter for playing starcraft. I play starcraft. And by the looks of his avatar, he plays Halo which is a totallly overrated shit game. =/


But with regards to this thread, belief is what it is .. belief. It has nothing to do with any external factors such as IQ or race, socio-economic status, gender, etc. It has everything to do with the individual. I know some smart people who believe in god, and some smart people who don't. It's give and take.

 

[jb_nc]

My IQ is 120 i don't believe in god so maybe it is true

lol

 

[Captain Gh3y]

It has nothing to do with any external factors such as IQ or race, socio-economic status, gender, etc. It has everything to do with the individual.

...Where you're born?

 

[ronnknee]

It is really complicated but people believe in God for different reasons. If you have a high IQ you will not believe in God for reasons such as creating adam and eve. That is why there are many high IQ atheists.

BUT intelligent people can also accept science and believe in God. They believe for
the right reasons. Lemme put it this way, which is a major generalisation. Lower IQ believe in God for not good reasons. High IQ people disbelieve because they don't beleive in the reasons the lower IQ peopel believe in. Highest IQ people believe in a God for the right reasons.

These people include Einstein and Hawking, the greatest physicists of their times. I know their beliefs is highly debated but basically, they believe in God, but not the conventional God many people believe in. Even the great atheist biologist Dawkins cannot say anything against that type of God in his book God Delusion and he even acknowledges it. I hear his IQ is over 200 btw, but not sure if true

 

[Ennaybur]

It is really complicated but people believe in God for different reasons. If you have a high IQ you will not believe in God for reasons such as creating adam and eve. That is why there are many high IQ atheists.

BUT intelligent people can also accept science and believe in God. They believe for
the right reasons. Lemme put it this way, which is a major generalisation. Lower IQ believe in God for not good reasons. High IQ people disbelieve because they don't beleive in the reasons the lower IQ peopel believe in. Highest IQ people believe in a God for the right reasons.

These people include Einstein and Hawking, the greatest physicists of their times. I know their beliefs is highly debated but basically, they believe in God, but not the conventional God many people believe in. Even the great atheist biologist Dawkins cannot say anything against that type of God in his book God Delusion and he even acknowledges it. I hear his IQ is over 200 btw, but not sure if true

lol at both the post and his website

and his sig

 

[themadness]

These people include Einstein and Hawking, the greatest physicists of their times. I know their beliefs is highly debated but basically, they believe in God, but not the conventional God many people believe in. Even the great atheist biologist Dawkins cannot say anything against that type of God in his book God Delusion and he even acknowledges it. I hear his IQ is over 200 btw, but not sure if true

Using the noun 'God' does not really do justice to Einsteins and perhaps even Hawking's beliefs as well. When using, the word 'God' (with a capital G) you are referring to the God of the Christian bible, one of the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity and the Jewish religion). This is an accepted definition for God. What you could best describe Einsteins beliefs would be either pantheism or maybe even deism. Pantheism is the belief that god, nature and/or the universe are equivalent - this comes across especially strong in much of his writing (while deism is the belief in a creator who doesn't interfere in his handiwork).

So you are partially write in describing Einsteins beliefs as not being the 'normal' 'God' (capital G) people believe in, but are incorrect in describing them as 'basically believing in God', as their beliefs were slightly more complicated than that.

 

[Eversor]

The article clearly claims for there to be a connection which suggests atheists are smarter than religious people. You can sugar-coat it any way you like, but the fact of the matter doesn't change.

Telsta & Einstein clearly contradict this most preposterous notion.

BUZZ!!! INCORRECT ANSWER!!!
Citing two examples each from either a century or more ago means shit all, fucking moron.

 

[Apey MatrixElf]

Einstein was a pantheist, yes, but NOT a deist. Jews and Christians condemned his theorem because he was not one of their own! (The misguided accepted his use of the word "God" to mean that of the sky-god/Abrahamic religions).

And Einstein also believed that a personal God was a naive concept. I was overjoyed at reading this, because it's exactly what I'd been telling my scripture teacher for years...

There have been various studies to show that the more intelligent you are, the less likely you are to believe in God. Unfortunately, I can't find them, I re-organised my booshelves over the weekend, and forget where I put the stats. More smarty-pants include Marx and Engels, Marz being a personal favourite of mine.

Eversor: you are an IDIOT. That long ago, people were brainwashed even more virulently to believe in God. It's really more the other way round, a testament to their intellect that they didn't believe!

Want modern examples??
-Daniel C. Dennett
-the afore-mentioned Richard Dawkins
-Carl Sagan
-etc.
(Really, names such as those are surely enough).

Think of some religious idiots:
-Pat Robertson (damned the city of Dover for voting fundamentalists off their educational board, blames hurricane Katrina upon the residence of a lesbian comedian in New Orleans);
-A Southern Baptish group in America who decided to count the number of Alabamans lost to hell - 1.86 million; those not belonging to a chuch congregation were included. Fools!
-That IDIOT (Brian Houston??) who founded Hillsong. Ugh. I have attended congregations more than once, and they are atrocious. I was nearly sick! Literally!

I could happily go on, but my fingers hurt. Back to assessments! *Ach*.

 

[ronnknee]

incorrect in describing them as 'basically believing in God', as their beliefs were slightly more complicated than that.

I know their beliefs were complicated. Its why I specifically said "basically".

And the article in the beginning is way too biased. I could have easily said 70% of those professors are NOT athiests to prove religion is the way to go, while ignoring the fact that most maybe agnostics. I'm not saying they are cause I dunno, but they could be.

 

[Wearingmyrolex]

What im trying to say is, i dont know what the fuck im talking about

fixed, man.

 

[ronnknee]

Learn statistics.

Me?!!? Learn stats?!?!!? Oh, u crack me up!! I'd know more stats than 90% of people. And I even know how to intepret them. I know that in a survey that said 99% of people liked porn, 1% was lying.
HEY wearingmyrolex! Stop tryin to frame me

 

[Apey MatrixElf]

One analysis:
Mensa Magazine! (Edition date scribbled over, sorry).

43 studies on educational level/IQ and religion.
39/43: IQ/education and atheism linked. (Only four not!)

Ergo, higher IQ/education: more likely atheistic.

 

[Apey MatrixElf]

mind you, if we think about it, nobody can ever be anything but an agnostic...
hmm...
*food for thought*

 

[ronnknee]

mind you, if we think about it, nobody can ever be anything but an agnostic...
hmm...
*food for thought*

So there u go! NONE of the top 1000 highest IQ people are athiests. Go God!

 

[Wearingmyrolex]

god can suck my 165 IQ cock